Why we chose this
We've reviewed every iPad Pro since the 2018 model, and the M5 is the first one where 'this is my main computer' is a coherent position for more than a niche audience. The display alone is worth the upgrade from an M2/M3 iPad Pro for anyone who watches video or draws.
The review
The M5 iPad Pro brings tandem OLED to the 11-inch model (it was 13-inch only previously), Wi-Fi 7, and a redesigned Magic Keyboard with a larger trackpad and proper function row. The M5 chip is overkill for tablet workloads, but it pays off in iPadOS 19's new external-display windowing — connect a monitor and you get real overlapping windows for the first time in iPad history. The Apple Pencil Pro is unchanged but now charges in the Magic Keyboard's wells. Battery life is the surprise: the new chip's efficiency cores keep light tasks (reading, browsing, drawing) under 2W, pushing real-world battery past 14 hours. The downside remains the same as every iPad Pro: it's almost a laptop replacement for almost every workflow, with 'almost' doing more work than Apple would like. But the display, the speakers, and the feel of the hardware are genuinely the best in the category, and iPadOS 19 is the closest macOS has gotten to running on a tablet.
